Ghost Ship: Saves The Souls
by Rain in Zombieland
Summary: Maureen is trying to settle into her day to day life, even with horrible flashbacks and endless nightmares. Only one problem, the balance between good and evil has been upset and she's to blame. What happens now? Jack doesn't want to see his precious work all go to waste and a few surprises are also unraveling as well. Rating may change.
1. Do we have a deal?

[Wrote this all tonight, it's 2:16 AM. I miss writing for this movie! Glad I got back into the swing after hating Fanfic for so long. Still to this day though I love RP because everyone can play off of each other.]

The sun had just started to rise above New York City and had already taken the many skyscrapers and buildings into an ever growing sparkle. It was sunny, too sunny for her liking and would only mean one thing; breathing. Every single day Maureen Epps had begged whatever God was in the sky to just take her life already, be done with it. Her entire crew of the Arctic Warrior had been ripped from her grasp and out of her life. For someone who had never knew a father figure in her life she had surely found it in her Captain. Murphy, a kind soul that would never be forgotten no matter how much time had passed by.

Seasons would come and go but the thoughts would always be there, always be of him. She had grown up in New York with an older sister who was the basic princess of the Epps family. Her mother was vain, selfish and a business woman who always wanted Maureen to be perfect. Like her sister anyway, Elizabeth. She was spoiled by their mother and always had the best money could offer and then some. The younger daughter of the family however was a rough and tumble tomboy through and through.

Someone that Jennifer Epps could never pin down in terms of having a perfect and well brought up life. Maureen was a free spirit and never wanted to take no for an answer, she craved knowledge and wanted things to be done right. Never mind her father being the handyman, she was. If a sink needed fixing, the brunette was there. If the lawn needed to be mowed, then damn was she ever there. Her motto in life was to live it to the fullest and earn her keep. To never take hand outs was the key, it would always be the key.

By the time her family had successfully put up a facade of being happy, her father had lost his job. The family drowned in an endless sea of depression and he resorted to alcohol. Wasn't that always how it was? The father would become a dead-beat and forget everything he had accomplished in his life. He would forget his family, his wife and his two loving daughters. He'd forget everything and eventually lose his mind.

Now she too would understand what it was like to completely lose your shit, and then some. By the time Elizabeth had been hitched and had two kids, Maureen was already out working in the harbor to bring in the crates of seafood and fish on her tugboat. It was decent pay, but her mother wasn't happy with her and was never satisfied.

She would never be satisfied, ever. No matter how much Maureen tried it would never be enough, Elizabeth would have to be the perfect daughter because it sure as hell wouldn't be her.

There was a man who used to come out from the local pubs and sit out on the docks when her work hour ended. He'd just sit there for what seemed like a few hours as if lost in a complete haze. He had that look to him that told the story of a broken man without any real direction in life. Maybe he was happy once? Maybe he was smarter than he let on, but he had no will to use any of it.

After a few weeks of finally getting to know him, she started to realize that there was someone out there with just about as many problems as she had. Maybe the dark haired girl wasn't alone.

Maybe there was still hope.

From there, Maureen had helped him ween off of the bottle and eventually they spilled their hearts out to each other and made a pact; help each other. No matter what the cost, they'd have their own tugboat, he'd be a Captain again and they would set off to find a crew. What came of those promises however was more than they bargained for.

Murphy had been the Captain's name and he was the closest thing to a father that she could have ever known. Her family started to forget about her and her mother just stopped talking all together. It was all right though, there was a crew and there was a light at the end of the dark tunnel they had all been traveling through.

A corridor of endless crap in their lives that had now been cleared. Devoid of any lonely misery so they could all share it.

Dodge, Munder, Greer and Santos were the names of the crew. The Arctic Warrior was what they eventually named the tug and had taken on some of the dirtiest and most difficult salvaging jobs ever. But it paid and paid well, which would ultimately give them the reputation they needed. The best in the business, that's what they were. A team and the glue that would hold them all together.

But as so many fairy tales do...this one had a tragic ending.

Now it was back to the daily grind, her share of the company had given her a small profit but it didn't remove the weight from her shoulders. The guilt, the pain and the horror that they had all gone through. It'd never go away.

Then again what was the point of wishing that it wouldn't? She had turned up washed out in the middle of the ocean and picked up by a soon to be boarded cruise ship. One thing that the disoriented young woman hadn't planned; that he'd be back.

Jack Ferriman. The way his cold blue eyes stared back at her from the entrance plank was almost indescribable. Her cries had been too harsh even for her ears and all at once...nothing.

Black. Everything had been black and the sedative that the paramedics had given her had finally worked. Eventually her talks of ghosts and soul takers had landed her right in a small psych ward and back to the drawing board. How the hell could Maureen possibly explain to them what had happened? They couldn't even fathom just what happened out there.

Her therapists had thought she was crazy at first, prescribed her all sorts of medication to help the pain. But it just numbed it...and after a while, she felt nothing anymore. After a while she started to lie in order to get herself out and the medication would get less and less until finally they'd release her.

She stood at the sliding glass door with a warm cup of coffee in her hands, decaff of course. Caffeine was probably the last thing she needed at this point in her life. Probably never again to be honest.

The phone rang slightly and jolted her from her thoughts. Epps frowned at the realization that it had been the phone and not just her imagination. Quietly she set the mug down on the table and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" her voice feigned a facade of normalcy even if she felt like screaming at the top of her lungs. Go figure, fatigue still was kicking in since it had been early in the morning.

"Hello, is this a Miss Maureen Epps?" the voice on the other line had spoken in broken English. He had an accent that couldn't really be described. Perhaps a mix of both Swedish and Italian? It didn't make much sense really.

Her brow arched at his words and almost wanted to scoff. "You're calling me, aren't you?" she shot back with slightly tired sarcasm.

"I'll take that as a yes." the man exhaled.

"So?" her hand tapped onto the table and tried to keep herself from hanging up. Did this guy have no respect or something? Seriously, the girl had hoped that the newspapers would eventually leave her the fuck alone by now. But there was always one right?

"You are in danger." the voice said on the other end. This nearly made her eyes wide as saucers but Maureen just glared at the blank wall in front of her.

"And how am I in danger?" she did a good job at masking the shake in her voice or the fear in her tone. In fact? They should give her a medal for this stuff. And like clockwork the line went dead.

Well, that was extremely not cool. Her green eyes peered back at the wall and finally her hand hung up the phone with an irritated sigh. Danger? Was that the best they could do? Stupid pranks, always a prank or so. Always something stupid to make her seem even more insane than they thought she was.

But there it was, a tapping at her door. Then it came into two solid knocks with someone's bony knuckles. She had just about enough of this shit already. "Hold on!" her voice upped its pitch a bit from still being groggy and now pissed off.

Finally gathering her thoughts, Epps grabbed onto the door handle and pulled it open. What she saw however didn't exactly make any tender moments in the situation right about now.

"Hello, Maureen." Jack Ferriman purred nearly with a grin that could give the Cheshire cat a run for his money.

"Shit." the woman gasped and instantly slammed the door shut with her hands. She held it there with all her might in an attempt to keep him out. It was no use, he wasn't human and by the time the lock was flipped he had her instantly against a wall.

"Not happy to see old friends are we?" Ferriman's demeanor had shifted in less than ten seconds flat to show his immense anger as his nostrils flared. His icy pale hand had her in a death grip around her throat. The more she tried to get him off the tighter his hand got.

His lips turned into a sneer and he back kicked the door closed so there would be no disturbances. With his telepathic powers the door immediately locked by both the knob and the chain. That was pretty easy, too easy actually.

Maureen clawed at his hand with all her might as her short nails left dull and bloody scratches on his wrist. He hissed in pain angrily and finally dropped her. Epps fell to the ground with a dull thump and held her throat hesitantly. She coughed while still rubbing her throat and tried to speak but failed at words.

He got down at eye level with her into a squat and tipped her chin to look at him. "You didn't think you'd get away so easy, did you? I mean, come on, Epps. No one escapes me and if I recall right...you're a sinner." his lips nearly upturned into a smirk and he slid his hand away from her chin to lightly slap her playfully.

"Get. The. Fuck. Away. From. Me." the tomboy glared at him and slid herself against the wall. Her knees were up just in case she had to kick him and she had grabbed onto a small paperweight from the middle table.

"Are you fucking serious right now?" Ferriman nearly laughed at her. "You blew up the ship, Epps. What happens when the ship goes boom?" he was toying with her and it was pissing her off tenfold. Jack stood and brushed off his dull green button up as if disgusted by any dirt on it. Such a prim and proper asshole.

Her eyes just glared daggers at him.

"Let me put it into words you'll understand, baby." he mocked her and loved every second of it. Hell, when was there not a point to degrade women? Especially how Francesca had it coming to her. But this one was different, she wasn't stupid and she had outsmarted him. That counted for something and management was already trying to chew his ass out for it.

"You blew me up too. You know what that means?" like he'd even give her a moment to guess. He loved to try to scare her even if she was just ready to clobber him in the skull with the paper weight.

"You killed me, you sinned." his anger started to flair again and he advanced on her once he was able to stand. "You cost me all my souls which was pretty much the fuck up of the year to Management. The balance doesn't take kindly to the tipping of its scales and let's just say you owe me." he held out his hand to her.

Some of her curls fell into her eyes but she couldn't help the chuckle that rolled off of the tip of her tongue. "Go to Hell." in retort to his offered hand.

"Been there, done that. You're coming along for the ride." new ship, new horrors... revenge was sweet.


	2. No way out

**AUTHOR HAS A NOTE DERP:** [It took a while, was throwing it around in my brain for a bit. So a quick heads up, the city is kind of like a major ground for a lot of serial killers, wannabes. When you get more into the story there's a pretty big reveal of the city and it's not all as it seems. Think of Saw meets The Collection/Collector. We'll get there!]

Her mind had traveled back to what Murphy had said on their payday. She couldn't fix everything. Keyword being fix, fix the ships, fix situations, fix the mess she had created with a goddamn soul taker and his merry band of ghosts.

Jack snapped his fingers with an irritated sneer on his lips, he was trying to get her attention. "Wake up, Maureen!" the man growled in both annoyance and impatience. He didn't have time for this, Management was ready to beat him senseless if he didn't get this little...incident over and done with.

Epps snapped out of her dream state and glared up at his looming form. It was almost like he was a child. He didn't get his way? He threw a tantrum. Only difference with a child was they didn't kill people.

"Yes I can." she spoke absent minded with a far off look in her eyes. He furrowed his eyebrows and couldn't help but roll his eyes. Did she finally go off the deep end? Had he driven this poor human insane?

"Can what?" Ferriman almost didn't want to ask because not only was it wasting time but he really couldn't care less.

"Fix shit." the woman smiled at him sweetly. He was puzzled but that was all it took for her to reel back a fist and slammed it up into the males jaw. In an instant Maureen was up on her feet and holding onto that paperweight as if it were her only hope out of this mess.

Jack stepped back with his lightning fast reflexes a little too late. He held his jaw in pain and attempted to straighten it out. The girl had a damn good right hook, no wonder she had survived that long not only on his ship but with a group of guys on the cruel seas. That job in its own was no place for a woman.

What did he know? He was just a sexist asshole who up until now had no respect for women.

"It's Epps." she narrowed her green gaze on him and still clutched onto the paperweight. Like it'd do anything to him? A threat, a useless threat. Sure there could be immense pain given to the soul taker but there was no such thing as death for him. That royally sucked.

"You're going to pay for that..." his voice nearly dropped to complete monotone, as if he had done back on the ship when finally showing his true colors. Lifeless, without any type of expression or feeling in his voice. Epps wouldn't lie, it frightened her but she had to stay strong. After all that was what got her through this the first time.

"Jack, if you wanted to kill me so bad you would've done it already." her tone wasn't exactly the peachiest right now either. Maureen set the paperweight down on the table beside her but never took her eyes off of Jack.

"Clever girl." he nodded in appreciation.

"Enough bullshit. You're going to help me get the souls I need to fill my new quota. I mean, you don't really have a choice so I wouldn't exactly fight it if I were you. I gave you the opt out option once, I'm not going to give it to you again." finally satisfied that his chin didn't ache anymore he leaned back against the wall across from her and folded his arms over his chest.

Fond memories began to swirl in his mind at the thought of him trying to drown her back in the Antonia Graza. She hadn't taken the bait, whether he was going to go through with it or not was an entirely different story however. Sure, once a passenger was marked he owned them...but he couldn't very well have a witness could he? Not that anyone would believe a ship wrecked crazy girl with laughable stories of ghosts.

"No." she stood her ground and made sure not to get in a relaxed stance like he was. Nope, always had to be on her guard. This wasn't playing house, this was real life and this was her living or dying.

"...You don't have a choice, Maureen!" Jack pushed off from the wall and slid his hand angrily over the table which crashed over a vase and an empty picture frame.

It made her form jump a little at the noise and the sudden action but she didn't budge. "Someone will hear that." the tomboy commented bluntly.

"Hear what? I didn't hear anything." Ferriman took on his innocent routine and gestured towards the floor. Nothing. Nothing was there. The frame was right back where it had fallen from and the vase was still perched up on the surface of the table.

There was fear in her eyes but more than anything Epps just wanted this over and done with. Finally she took her gaze off of the sadistic man in front of her and grabbed onto her jean jacket to tug it on. "One question." her hand shoved her dark tresses in a messy but low ponytail after throwing Jack a glance.

"What else is new." the male spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"Where is Katie?"

Jack smiled a Cheshire cat-like grin and once again played the innocence card. "Heaven. Didn't you see her float off with all the other souls after you destroyed my ship?"

She gave him a dirty look and had already guessed his ploy. "Bullshit. You said yourself once a passenger is marked...they're yours. Considering she was the one you couldn't take then that means all the other souls are still tethered to you." her gaze landed on the wooden floor and sadness was hidden in her expression.

"Well, at least you liked the light show, right? To be honest, I don't give a rats ass where she went. How the hell should I know anyway? The souls are my priority, not the pesky ghost brat." Jack muttered and grabbed onto the small box in his pocket, a carton of cigarettes.

The woman didn't exactly know if Katie was actually in Heaven or if Jack was just being an ass. She'd guess both only Katie was in Heaven and Jack was still an ass.

"Don't you know, smoking'll _kill_ you?" her hand reached for her door and started to unlock it.

"_Funny_." Ferriman exhaled a puff of smoke having taken out a cancer stick and lighting it before. She was too busy bothering with the stubborn locks to even notice anyway.

"You want my help? Open the goddamn door, Jack."

In true Ferriman fashion he moved past her and unlatched the lock on the door. "You don't know how to unlock your front door, Epps?" he hid a smile.

That was the first time he actually didn't use her first name. Good, one nasty habit taken care of. She hated the way he said it anyway, the only reason he found out was from the walkie in the past with Dodge and Munder.

"Shut up." her words were muttered underneath her breath when she realized he had purposely kept it locked even when she had unlocked it. Without further ado, Maureen shoved past him and opened the door nearly hitting him square in the face.

"Didn't see you, you know being a ghost and all." more sarcasm. She knew he wasn't a ghost, too bad...wasn't there some voo doo shit or something to cure her of that? Whatever that magic stuff was, her mother had never believed in it so neither had she.

Boy, things really changed over time didn't they?

He closed the door behind them and caught up to her side by side. "Do you even know where we're going, Maureen?" he sighed.

Nope, spoke too soon! There he went again with the name. Epps was determined to ignore him and had been so infuriated with him that she had just been stomping off not knowing what direction to go. Hey, can't keep an independent woman from singing her own tune right?

She stopped and looked up at him. "After you." her tone suggested acid and in her mind there were plots of perhaps shoving him in shark infested waters one of these days.

"Don't be a smartass." he retorted back to her and headed down towards the docks. She was hesitant at first but had to keep reminding herself that she was doing this for Murph...for her freedom and so maybe they could rest in peace? That crew that had been lugging the gold onto the last ship had looked an awful lot like them but it hadn't been.

Finally when it felt like she wasn't walking on eggshells anymore, the woman pressed on down the sandy hill and stopped at a motorboat tied to the edge of the dock. The hell was this? What did he plan to do, throw her overboard?

Her mood shifted from anger to just plain confusion and finally looked up at him. He didn't want to talk anymore and forcefully shoved her down into the boat. Epps landed catching her hand just on the side of the boat and bit her tongue to conceal her pain. She stole her wrist back from where it had collided with the side of the motorboat and rubbed it.

Jack untied the line and started up the motor in no time. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest as the horizon grew from the city, from the beach and finally out to the open nothingness of pure ocean. "We're going for a little ride." he eased his form back against the side of the water vehicle and those words earned him a roll of the girls eyes.

"I hadn't noticed." she replied flatly.

"..._My God_, Maureen. If I had ever known stubborn bitches like you when I was alive I would have enjoyed myself more." he arched an eyebrow at her usual quips and proceeded to shut both of his eyes to get some rest.

"...I'm going to pretend that I didn't just throw up in my mouth a little." the brunette grumbled and leaned back against the opposite side and just watched him like a hawk.

Ferriman stifled a yawn and started to drift off. She noticed a rolled up piece of paper in his pocket. It seemed too easy for her to just grab it...was he really asleep that fast?

Trying her luck her form moved inches closer and slowly placed her hand near him to carefully take the paper. Nope! Not going to happen. His hand shot out in record speed and held a vice grip on her wrist almost breaking it.

Epps elbowed him in the mouth and grabbed her wrist back as if he had just burned it. What the hell had he just done!? Didn't he do palms? Christ!

"What the _FUCK_ **did** you just do?!" she shook her hand after feeling the searing hot pain shoot up her palm. He smiled maliciously and took out the paper from his pocket; it was a map.

"You're like me now. You've got a job to do, Maureen. I own you. Management owns us both, get used to it." and with that he proceeded to get some shut eye once more leaving the woman bewildered, frightened and all together pissed off.

Finally they hit land. Somehow her mind had drifted off elsewhere and there was a sharp poke in her side. Her eyes widened and instantly she jolted up startled. The loud buzzing of the motor had subsided and the boat was docked. In fact, Jack was already out of the boat and heading up onto the beach.

"What the **hell** is this?"

Epps asked as she slid out of the boat and onto land. "Our first official gig, Sweetheart." his hand lashed out and grabbed onto her wrist once more only to tug her up onto the sandy hill. "Faster, Maureen! Wasn't it you who told me to stop dragging ass?" the male spoke coldly. She shouldered him away and headed up to the top of the hill. It was a city. But it was like an abandoned city unlike anything she had ever seen before.

For once, the woman kept quiet having so much to take in from the sights and now sounds of the atmosphere. At first she didn't know if it was going to be a cruise ship; nope that was out of the mix. Was this an island? An island with a city. It felt like some episode of Lost only way more screwed up.

"The city of Wendell. Well, it's not actually a real city but it'll do. All I can say is blend in. Management rigged it so there's little to no law enforcement around here with plenty of souls ripe for the taking." he drawled on and on.

Her eyebrow arched. "In English, if there's no cops...then what the hell is so hard about it? There's a catch..." she knew all too well.

"Well, yeah. I didn't say my job was easy. There are plenty of... possible victims. And I say possible because you're going to help me make them as such. Innocent people, like you and your crew having to be forced to do something that only Hell would accept. Considering if you make it through this...maybe I'll take you on a pleasure cruise, you know one of those fun Carnival ones? Make use of the gold, old favorite of mine."

Her face paled. "How many do you need?"

"You mean we need? 4,000. Give or take. Managements pretty pick about their even numbers. _Don't_ fuck it up."


End file.
